India to bring back citizens on board Diamond Princess cruise ship

The Indian embassy in Japan on Tuesday (25) said that a chartered flight has been arranged to repatriate Indians on board the cruise ship off the Japan coast who have not tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The number of infected Indians on the vessel rose to 14 with two new cases.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people, on board the Diamond Princess ship when it docked at the Yokohama port, near Tokyo, on February 3.

“A chartered flight is being arranged to repatriate Indian nationals on board Diamond Princess, provided they have (a)consented, (b) not tested positive for COVID-19, (c) cleared by the medical team,” the mission tweeted on Tuesday.

“An email advisory to this effect, with details, has been sent to them,” it said.

The crew members who tested positive for COVID-19 are responding well to the treatment, it said.

Passengers showing no signs of the deadly disease started deboarding the ship after the quarantine period ended last week.

Over 1,000 passengers and crew still remain on board the ship after the disembarkations.

The Indian embassy had on Saturday said that Indians, who are still on board the ship, will be tested for the virus infection along with others after all the healthy passengers have disembarked.

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